Glenn Livingston was arrested for drinking on January 4th, 2012, and you can see his mugshot here.

It’s pretty scary what you can learn using Google Alerts!

Like most marketers, I have routine alerts out on my name, and for just a moment when I saw this come through I wondered if perhaps I’d been out on a bender I’d forgotten last week (even though I haven’t had a drink in 20+ years… not ’cause I’m an alcoholic–I detest that term–just because I find life more interesting and satisfactory without screwing with my mental state)

I also learned, of course, about the myriad of people stealing my products (we pursue them legally now), and a few things about yet ANOTHER Glenn Livingston who’s a pastor in Illinois up to some interesting things from time to time.

But none of these rather mundane results from Google Alerts come anywhere close to the REAL power of this FREE utility…

(Even though tracking your namesakes’ activities can from time to time generate an attention getting headline)

Because most marketers have absolutely NO idea how to use it…

The REAL way to leverage Google Alerts is to first know with crystal clarity EXACTLY what keyword defines your ideal prospect, plus a very small set of related keywords which surround it.  Taken together these become your “archery target”… the small space which defines EXACTLY WHO YOU WANT TO BE on the internet, and allows you to more or less ignore everything else.

Once you’ve done that, you can combine Google Alerts with Google Reader Feeds (and some anti-RSS-spam code) to automatically collect pretty much EVERYTHING that happens on the internet that’s relevant to you…

And stop getting distracted by everything else…

Which is the ONLY way to build a hyper-responsive marketing system in my humble opinion.

Have any of you found effective-yet-novel uses for Google Alerts we should know about?

Tell me, I’d like to know!

Dr. G

PS – I’m considering organizing my network and resources to build a “performance-pay-based-conversion boosting-done-for-you” service.  Curious if that’s of interest to any of my readers today

Seriously though, there are a few things I think marketers casually banty about as if they were psychological fact which really bother me… And there are others which tell only HALF the story.

So let’s start there with…

UNUSUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL MARKETING FACT #1: “Impulse Isn’t Everything”

Impulse isn’t everything.

Yes, it’s true you’ve gotta appeal to the Lizard Brain with greed, lust, envy, jealousy, etc in order to induce action on your offer. (Which is one of the reasons I’m fond of saying “try to appeal to the lizard brain without seeming like a lizard”)

But the other half of the story is,  this only produces TRIAL BUT NOT NECESSARILY REPEAT…

Satisfying the lizard brain is only PART of what we need in this world…

As sappy as it sounds, the other half is help mastering our environments, our relationships, our place in society, and life as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, you won’t get ANYWHERE trying to sell people self-actualization, self-improvement, or simple self-mastery solutions unless you can link them to the lizard brain…

It’s just that lizard brain satisfaction is a necessary but not sufficient condition for REPEAT purchase and customer loyalty.

So it’s not enough to sell luster and shine if you’re selling shampoo…

Or even to sell the emotional end benefit (I feel attractive)…

To really take the market you need to sell the aspirational character… how your product is going to MAKE YOUR PROSPECT INTO THE PERSON THEY WANT TO BE…

Think L’Oreal “Because You’re Worth It”: when a woman buys L’Oreal, she’s not just trying to look sexy, she’s supporting a character trait which translates to self-care across a wide variety of life areas… she’ll also more likely invest in vitamins, a gym membership, life insurance, a spa, etc

Or think Gillette “The Best a Man Can Get”:  a guy’s not just buying Gillette razors to get the cleanest shave possible, or to attract a desired mate… he’s partaking of the best the world has to offer alpha males, and this informs WHO he wants to be across market categories

Or Intel “Intel Inside”:  when you buy Intel, you’re not just getting a high speed processor, you’re committing (whether you know it or not) to recognizing, developing, and leveraging the value of intelligence across many areas of your life…

Or Kodak “Share the Moments, Share the Life”:  when you buy Kodak, you’re not just getting sharp pictures, or even crystallizing memories… you’re committing to family and community as a value you want to demonstrate as a person… it enhances your sense of participation in life with others, and re-affirms your desire to build more of these relationships as part of WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON…

See what I mean?

These brands engender MASSIVE REPEAT PURCHASE and loyalty because they’ve managed to integrate themselves with the user’s aspirational self image!

What you should be asking yourself now is, WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES YOUR PROSPECT BECOME when they purchase your product or service?   Is your advertising set up to support this message?

Onward and Upward in 2012,

Dr. G

PS – When you join Hyper Responsive Marketing Secrets you affirm yourself as a person who gets enormous leverage for their  time  and consistently “organizes and executes around priorities” because you know HALF your profits are driven by only ONE in 2,000 visitors.   This radical paradigm shift not only transforms your business, but syncs with your commitment to apply the 80/20 rule throughout your life to achieve maximum results with minimum time.   Join now

PPS – Keep your eyes glued to your inbox for “weird psychological marketing fact #2″, coming soon.

CreaLern promotes and administers an amazingly effective method for helping children with learning difficulties jump several grade levels in record time.  More exciting is that this is so well documented, Joe guarantees the RESULTS to his clients (not just satisfaction).

Joe does approximately 1/2 million in Germany with a very nice profit margin, and is looking for a direct response marketer to help expand the company to the English speaking world.  (He speaks English fluently himself)

I suggested he let me interview him about the development of his business (definitely a Jay Abraham story!) including as many specifics as he could possibly feel free to share (which he did)…

So that you could benefit from the marketing lessons and he could benefit from the exposure.

I will take NOTHING from whatever deal he happens to strike… this is one from the heart (Joe is really helping children during a critical developmental period… I used to work with kids this age and I know how devastating school difficulties can feel to them… I hope this will be a good match for someone well schooled in my methods)

Enjoy,

G

PS – You can email Joe here

When you look at an elephant way off yonder you get a fuzzy, warm feeling in your heart, your mind starts imagining how nice it might be to own one as a pet, you start dreaming about how different your life would be with that warm hearted, brilliant mammal gracing your days, and you become literally delighted about how easy it’s going to be to get him on board, feed him, and keep him happy…

You figure any and all problems associated with your beloved new fantasy “elephant in the distance” can’t possibly be bigger than cockroaches, and surely you’ll crush them with a single step (or rely on your new pet to do it for you).

But the problem is, when you actually adopt an elephant, and get to see what he looks like up close you realize…

That sucker is gigantic, mean, and hungry!

(And get ready to MOVE OVER in your bed and have plenty of sleepless nights, because you know where a 5,000 pound elephant sleeps?  Anywhere he wants to!)

It’s the same thing with marketing projects and small businesses in general.

There’s something about the entrepreneurial nature which draws us to them, thinking they’re these ultra cuddly, playful, easy to manage bundles of small little joy which are going to enrich our lives…

When in reality if you REALLY want to raise and keep any worthwhile elephant, it’s probably going to overtake your life for a year or two until you’ve got it tamed (and then it can be wonderful).

In fact, all the successful entrepreneurs and marketers I know seem to embrace and accept this fact.

Sure, in every market there are probably only six real things you need to know in order to stand out from the crowd with a point of difference benefit.  That makes it sound EASY… But which six are they?   How much research is it going to take to not only figure that out, but to MAKE THOSE SIX POINTS A PART OF WHO YOU ARE… so that you naturally and effortlessly convey them in everything you say and do, and infuse them with passion in all your marketing materials.

Sure, all you really need to do to dominate a market is get in the game and stay in the game until you win it, continually testing and tracking and tweaking your way up the “beat my control” ladder to success…

But it’s EASY to talk about testing…

It’s HARD to do it!

Because testing requires traffic, and traffic requires either time or money.  So in reality every single market test you do consumes resources.  And once you ARE profitable in the market, every time you divert a percentage of your traffic to a NEW, untested approach, you’re risking that profit at minimum for the duration of the test. (Every marketer is familiar with the phenomenon of getting steady increases with tests early in the game, then reaching a point of diminishing returns where 9 out of 10 tests don’t beat the control… those tests are expensive… WORTH IT, if you manage them correctly, of course, but expensive nonetheless)

Moreover, just like you’ve gotta do research to figure out the six main ideas in every market, you’ve also got to do research to find HIGH LIKELIHOOD PROFITABLE TESTING INPUTS.   (As an aside, most people think they’re testing different inputs when  in reality they’re  just testing versions of the same approach… you’ve got to test radically different and distinct inputs to maximize your testing gains)

OK, I think you get the idea.

What’s the solution?

First of all, remember the premise… most elephants worth raising are big and mean, even though they look small and cuddly in the distance.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is, they look that way to your competitors too… but now you know it and they don’t.

So you can spend the requisite amount of time choosing the RIGHT elephant to adopt, and allocate the right amount of time and resources when you do…

If you do this, you’ll not only be disproportionately less likely than your competition to quit or run out of resources, but you’ll be disproportionately more even keeled and ready to handle the size of the problems and adversity likely to face you when tackling any truly worthwhile project.

On a more practical level, knowing the rule of distant elephants means you’re more careful about choosing your market, and researching it carefully once you have before you start spending money on marketing.

There’s nothing wrong with adopting an elephant if you know what you’re getting yourself into.  And the truth is, I can’t think of anything worthwhile in my life I’ve ever accomplished which didn’t have a few elephants involved.

Onwards and Upwards,

Dr. G

Choose Profitable Markets |  Research Them Carefully

PS – This post inspired by a blog article by Uri Geller.

It’s true.

Saturday morning I weighed 222…but on Sunday morning the scale said 230.

As in “Holy Cheese Balls Batman… that’s 8 pounds in one day!”

I turned to Sharon and said “If this keeps up, by Friday I’m going to weigh 300 pounds.

We quickly went through possible causes…

Did you move the scale dial?  No, definitely not.

Was the salad dressing last night inordinately salty?  Nope… went downstairs and checked it.  190 mg per tablespoon, and I only had three at best.

Did I eat more than I thought?

Well, to gain eight pounds I’d have to eat like 27,000 calories more, right?

But no… when I added up the day it was about 3,000 calories, which is pretty tame for a day when I lift weights and walk six miles.

Was there some kind of a solar flare that impacted how much everyone weighs in the area?  No… none of my friends or colleagues reported any similar abnormalities on their scales.

Maybe someone altered the gravitational field in my bathroom, or injected me with a strange serum which drastically altered my molecular density?

I suppose anything’s possible (I love “The Fringe” TV show, don’t you?)…

But the bottom line is, no matter how many times I got on the damn scale it said 230, and that was 8 pounds more than 24 hours previous.

I was freaked out.

And the more Sharon told me not to freak out, the more freaked out I felt.   (If you’ve ever been heavy, you know the feeling)

Did I have some strange new disease?

Well…

Fast forward to Sunday evening I weighed 226…

And Monday morning I was right back at 222 (or… technically 221 if I leaned just the right way).

I didn’t do anything special to get the weight off.  I ate normally, had a reasonably sedentary Sunday,

And I’ve got NO explanation for it… and probably never will.

Which brings me to my marketing point…

There are some numbers you’re really not supposed to watch daily…

There’s just too much noise in the data…

And staying glued compulsively to your computer screen while they go up and down is a great way to make yourself crazy.  Seriously.

Which is why I’m a big proponent of figuring out the “statistically stable cycle” in your market for impressions, clicks, opt ins, and sales.

Every market is different.

There are some where the traffic comes screaming in so fast it makes your head spin…But try and run an A-B test in 24 hours and you’ll find that (even though the statisticians will tell you the results are significant at the 99.999% confidence level) the big winner on Monday is  a big loser on Tuesday.

WAY too much noise in 24 hours.

Or a common rookie mistake is to get extremely excited when a bunch of sales come in one day, and then suicidal the next day when there’s none.

That’s a manic depressive way to live.

Get to know your market better and you’ll come to take it in stride (look at monthly reports, moving averages, etc)

We all got into this internet marketing thing to drive a more SANE lifestyle right?

Something it’s all too easy to forget.

Now who wants to write an ebook about my new “Lose 8 pounds in 24 hours” diet?

Dr. G

PS – The Club

I got ALL these bites in LITERALLY under six minutes
(That’s gotta be a new world’s record… someone call Guinness!)

OK, so Wednesday morning I woke up with nice, clean arms.

True, I was whiter than the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man combined, but I didn’t have even a single bite.

Then Sharon called to say she had to work late, and so I got it into my head to hike the Caps Ridge Trail up Mt. Jefferson… a stunning 5,000 footer in the White Mountains.  (It stays light until 9 pm now up here… it’s like getting two days in one!)

I also thought “it’s so hot out, even though I never hike in short sleeves, today’s the day”  (In the 90s this week… a rarity for New Hampshire, where our state motto is “Live, Freeze, and Die”)

So off I went… two hours in the car, 4 litres of Fiji Water in my back pack (always gotta be Fiji!), my boots, poles, short sleeves, and big bottle of  sun block to keep me nice and white. (Because I don’t tan, I burn)

When I got there, Jefferson Notch Road was CLOSED. (The 7 mile dirt road which leads to the trail)

But there’s just something about the 4,000 footers in the Whites that calls to me…

So I decided to tackle Mt. Hale instead, because the trailhead is only 15 minutes away, and it’s another mountain I’d been wanting to knock off my list.

What I FORGOT was you absolutely do NOT want to hike near a shallow stream or still water in June unless you enjoy feeding the gnats and mosquitoes…

The trail head was more buggy than usual, but I blew it off thinking that I wouldn’t notice it once I got moving.

About half way up the trail I ran into a guy who said “it’s unbelievably buggy on top, not sure I’d continue if I were you”.

But I dismissed this warning too, thinking “he’s just an inexperienced hiker… kind of a wuss”.  (Yeah… like real men are supposed to wear bee hives as lampshades at parties, right?)

So I continued on up to the top.

At the summit I thought “this isn’t so bad”, so I took off my pack, took out my sardines and rice (a guy’s gotta eat), and prepared to enjoy a meal.

Well…

You know how people tend to say “there were a thousand bugs after me”… and you take it figuratively, meaning “there were a LOT of bugs”

I’m NOT talking figuratively.

I’m being LITERAL.

At least 1,000 bugs came swarming.

I’ve never seen anything like it…

It was like being in a horror movie (remember the scene in “Wilbur” with the rats?)

I couldn’t get my pack on quick enough…

And run for my life.

I’ll never forget it.

Well…

The bugs did NOT follow me off the summit.  I really don’t know why… maybe there was some electromagnetic force which kept them up there, maybe they were “defending their turf” and were just happy when I left, but for whatever reason I was free of them within 50 yards.

And the trip down was relatively uneventful, except for a nice 70 year old man who turned out to be a psychotherapist, horribly lost in the woods.  (I took him back down with me and gave him a ride to HIS trailhead… we head-shrinkers have got to stick together!)

So why did I tell you this story?

Because when you want something bad enough–a business goal for instance–sometimes you’ll ignore repeated, obvious, strong warnings in pursuit of it.

Granted, persistence is a necessary character trait for entrepreneurial success, and if it weren’t for hard-headed, stubborn business people innovation would never occur.

But on the other hand, there ARE paths that don’t need to be retread, problems that don’t need to be repeated.

Here are a five I’ve seen literally hundreds of times in the course of dealing with coaching students, customers, and peers:

1. GET THE MATH RIGHT!:  If there’s one mistake which kills marketing projects way over and above all others it’s this one.   In fact, I’m going to coin a new quote right here and now “the stronger the dream, the weaker your math ability”. I’ve seen hundreds of coaching students, Glenn Club members, clients, friends, and peers plunge straight on to their “deaths” all the while completely convinced their dream MUST catch on.  Really… ask yourself how much (specifically) you’re planning to make when the business model is mature, estimate your cost per visitor, cost per lead, cost per sale, refund rate, customer service costs, chargebacks, lifetime customer value, available traffic, etc. and put it all in a big spreadsheet.  Do it NOW while you’re thinking about it, before your dreaming brain takes over and tells you “I think it’s gonna be OK because you’re such a great marketer”, or because the product idea is so cool, or because nobody else is doing it.  If you don’t have math on your side, you don’t have ANYTHING.
2. DON’T ASSUME YOU CAN TRANSFER A JOINT VENTURE MARKETING SUCCESS INTO PAID ADVERTISING CHANNELS:   Joint Ventures carry two very, very powerful advantages which disappear when you move to paid traffic (1) the endorsement of someone with a relationship with their list and (2) the relative absence of competition at the moment of contact (in contrast to PPC, for example, when there are 20 other vendors on the page competing for your prospect’s attention).   Most successful JV projects I’ve seen were limited to JV traffic (and possibly SEO).   On the other hand, you CAN and usually should pursue joint ventures in the opposite direction… if something is profitable in paid media, there’s probably a lot of money on the table to be picked up by working with your competitors.
3. DO RESOURCE PLANNING BEFORE YOU LAUNCH:   You’ve probably heard me say this before… In internet marketing, “the name of the game is staying in the game until you win the game”.  Most people crap out of the game not so much because they can’t manage Google, or don’t know how to advertise, or have a bad product, or aren’t making any sales… most people crap out of the game too soon because they run out of resources.  What resources?  (a) Money; (b) Time; (c) Passion for the Project; (d) Moral Support.   (In the How To Choose Profitable Markets system Terry and I spent quite some time making the point that your very market choice should be determined by your resources, and provide a spreadsheet/blueprint to help)
4. DO YOUR FRICKING RESEARCH:  Most of you know I used to get paid between $100,000 and $500,000 to do marketing research for large companies.  What you don’t know is that the way the internet has evolved, there are now literally dozens of ways to get the same information for free.   Someone could make a business out of just compiling consumer language from the buyer reviews on Amazon.com alone… it’s absolutely amazing!  There’s absolutely no reason to play blind archery anymore.
5. SELL RESULTS, NOT PROCEDURES:   (Thanks to Perry Marshall for this one).  For example, my wife’s been developing a web-video infomercial service for entrepreneurs.  She really is among the best in the world at her craft… but the problem is, people don’t want infomercials, they want CUSTOMERS.   So I’m helping her develop a model where the client simply covers her costs of production (usually just a few thousand dollars), and then they pay for phone calls and sales instead.

Now, no one’s invulnerable to the allure of the mountain top.

We all trudge ahead on our journeys despite the warnings and clear signs on the road.

Dreams are the stuff of life.. they make us human…

And nobody’s more prone to them than I, as evidenced by my lovely bug-meat story.

But above are the 5 most important warnings I want engraved on my tombstone for all the entrepreneurs that ever come visit me OK?

Onwards and Upwards,

Dr. Bugmeat

Coaching |  Do it Yourself | Choosing Profitable Markets |  Audio-Video Infomercials |  Total Conversion Code

Now it turns out this was actually good news (created by an enthusiastic reader sharing one of last week’s posts about YouTube SEO with some interesting anchor text based upon some self-deprecating humor I utilized in the MP3 on that post), but it brought up a good point for me…

It’s not my goal to be offensive…

But I’ve learned over the years that if I’m not WILLING to offend anyone, it’s extremely difficult to write or record ANYTHING worth talking about.

Thus I’ve got many posts with unusual titles, and hard hitting (though compassionate) straight talk within them.  For example, you may have enjoyed (or been offended by) some of my more offensive posts:

• The Cockroach Conversion Secret
• Are You Willing to be Hated?
• Constipated Marketing Secrets
• I Am Ugly, So Very VERY Ugly
• It’s Better to Sweat in Training Than to Bleed in Battle
• The Strange Psychology of Money

Some people have even told me they were offended by posts I considered entirely innocuous, like “Marketing With Your Bald Spot“, “4 Things I No Longer Believe“, or “Human Nature and Your Marketing Mindset”

But here’s the point..

If I had NOT risked offending people… indeed if I had not deeply offended hundreds (if not thousands) of people, I would NOT be where I am today.

I wouldn’t have had the chance to deeply connect with the entrepreneurs who make my life as rich as it is.

I wouldn’t have gotten the feedback I needed to grow as a marketer (and as a person)…

I wouldn’t have been able to kick-start Rocket Clicks, build the hyper-responsive club, get my video seo agency going…

And instead of being a nerdy-geek-marketing-psychologist with thousands of customers and a brilliant audience for the hundreds of things he has to say each year–the good, the bad, AND the ugly…

I’d just be a nerdy geek.

Which is not to say that’s the end of the world (more power to geeks!)…

But how much richer is my life, for the simple willingness to risk offending you?

SO… Have I offended you yet?

Onwards and Upwards,

Dr. G

PS – This week, I decided to open up a few extra coaching slots now that I have completed the Total Conversion Code project.   I’ve got 2 slots left, and my slightly-less-ugly counterpart Ryan has 2 as well.  So please click here now to read about how you can  get coached by a real ugly bastard with a damn strong track record of success.

1. Stop asking for first names on your opt in forms (at least on the first page).    Tests show first names suppress response.   And you know what?  You’re probably not using the information correctly when you’ve got it anyway.  (If you DO have first name, don’t use it in the subject line, and don’t you dare use it in the greeting of the email… instead, embed it several times deep in the body of your email like your best friend might when she’s writing to you)
2. Call a dozen of your competitors and analyze their phone messages. Seriously… it’s amazing to me just how many people spend a fortune on generating the call, only to totally neglect to address the customer’s most common concerns on their voicemail, or via their customer service.  Your voice mail should immediately reassure your prospect AND convey your point of difference benefits, just as succinctly and professionally as your landing page (if not more, because of the value of the opportunity). Don’t just read this… go do it now, really… I’ve never had ANYONE come back and tell me they did this and regretted the time spent.
3. If You’re Stuck, Spend a Full Day Trying to Fail:   Seriously.  If you feel stuck in your business, take a day off and think of all the ways you possibly can to destroy it.  I’m not saying to DO those things, I’m just saying to brainstorm them, capture the energy encapsulated within them, write down your idea, call your friends and ask how they could make them worse.    The ACTUAL SOLUTIONS these business-destroying-ideas will stimulate (in a kind of Zen-like paradoxical “use the force Luke” way) will astound you.  Really, seriously, 100% straight up… don’t say bullshit, say “I’ll try it Glenn”. (Repeat after me “I’ll try it Glenn”, “I really will try it”)

Well, I guess you caught me in one of my moods.

Aren’t you glad you did?

Enjoy!